This is my first shipping fic and also my first multi-chapter fic. I have almost no experience in writing these so I'm counting on the sheer number of these I've read to get me anywhere.

I was originally planning to do the typical thing and release this on Valentine's Day, but I got bored waiting.

Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun, or there'd be more Golden Sun games than Final Fantasy games, including spin-offs. Not this 'We're thinking about planning a third game.'
......at least a third game should be coming..... anytime now...... please?

Isolation

Chapter 1- Desire

She was so beautiful, so pure. Her long, blue hair, stroking her soft cheeks as it waved in the wind; her slender figure, outlined by the bulky fur cloak she wore; her pale, unblemished face that seemed to glow with compassion; all entranced him.

Isaac glanced yet again at their group's recent addition. He couldn't help himself. No matter how hard he tried to prioritise the mission, his thoughts had always ended up trailing back to the sweet-faced healer. The more he tried to focus on anything else, the harder it became for him to keep his thoughts from returning to her. It was almost as if his infatuation had grown since they had started travelling that morning.

When he, Garet and Ivan had first met her in Imil, he had been stunned, barely able to speak. He had been caught completely off guard. They had just walked into the house of the old couple.

"How are you feeling?"

It was there he'd caught sight of her. He remembered her kind, thoughtful expression as she spoke to the old man, her voice laced with concern.

"It's going to be fine. You'll be feeling better in no time."

She had lowered her hands delicately, resting them on the frail old man's forehead and closed her eyes. He immediately recognised the rings of psyenergy that surrounded her as she cured the old man. Her hands shone, bathing her figure in blue light. To him, she had seemed ethereal.

Afterwards, they had helped her through the Mercury Lighthouse, solving the lighthouse's many mysteries. Together, they had defeated Saturos upon the lighthouse aerie and then... Alex. Complete shock had registered across Mia's face at the sight of her former apprentice.

"It's been a long time, Mia."

Alex's cool voice had echoed around the lighthouse. Mia had stared at him, overwhelmed, rendered almost completely speechless as he lifted up Saturos, supporting the enemy who had just attacked them.

"You're not going to get away with this Alex!"

Garet had dashed forward but there was a burst of psynergy and Alex warped himself and Saturos away in the direction of the elevator. He smiled lightly.

"Just watch me."

"A- Alex? W-What..... why....?"

Mia had finally managed to stutter out a few words. Alex had glanced up and stared directly into Mia's eyes, his face slipping into an expressionless mask.

"Sorry Mia, but I can't remain the same Alex you knew forever."

She stared at him in horror. He had gazed backwards as the elevator had risen.

"I guess this is where we make our farewells. I look forward to seeing you all again."

The group had watched hopelessly as Alex and Saturos descended the lighthouse elevator to safety. There was silence, and then....

"Please, let me join you.... I- I need to stop Alex!"

Isaac, Garet and Ivan had all stared at her in astonishment.

"But what about the people of Imil?"

"They should be fine; now that the lighthouse has been lit, the Water of Hermes should be flowing at the lighthouse entrance. Please.... we can't let Alex get away with this."

He remembered the pleading look in her eyes, but there was something else he couldn't recognise. Was it determination? Fear? Sadness? He had felt so sorry for her, being betrayed by a member of her own clan. The overwhelming desire to comfort her, hold her in his arms-

"Hey Isaac! Try to keep your eyes in your head!"

It was Garet. Isaac, surprised, realizing that he had been staring at Mia again hurriedly shook his head.

"W-What are you talking about?" stuttered Isaac, feigning ignorance.

Has it really been that obvious?

Garet grinned. "Aww, c'mon, no need to hide it. You've been eyeballing that girl since we left Imil! Seriously, just tell her!"

"Garet!" Isaac quickly glanced at Mia to make sure she hadn't noticed his exclamation. She was busy chatting with Ivan. "I don't-"

"As if! It could hardly be any more obvious. Go on, just chat her up or something!"

"Seriously Garet, you're just imagining it!" said Isaac, desperately attempting to preserve any sense of self-dignity.

"Why are you bothering to even deny it? You know as well as I do it's the truth!"

"Umm.... is this a bad time?"

Mia stood timidly to the side of their argument. At the sound of her voice, Isaac whipped around fast, tripping over his own feet.

"Oof!" Isaac fell backwards, landing heavily on his back.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mia, a concerned look crossing her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry.... you just...... shocked me."

Grinning sheepishly as red tinge of embarrassment crept across his face, Isaac pulled himself back onto his feet and began walking again.

"So..... um..... what do you want?" Isaac asked in a voice that he hoped sounded casual.

"Oh, Ivan said that you had something to discuss with me."

Isaac glanced behind Mia and caught the grin Ivan was passing to Garet as the pair of them walked away.

I'm going to kill them....

"Um.... Isaac?" Mia tilted her head questioningly.

"Uh..... I just thought you should know..... that we'll be setting up camp soon." Isaac improvised.

"Oh..... okay....."

The pair walked on in silence. Isaac tried staring straight ahead but continued to glance at her every so often when he was certain she wasn't watching. He wondered how anybody could be so graceful, so seemingly flawless. At the same time, self-conscious ate into him; she was walking so closely beside him. His movements felt slow and clumsy. He felt light-headed. But it was the silence that seemed to weigh the most heavily on his mind; he felt a need to break the tension it created.

He tried working up a conversation.

"Mia, can I do or get you anything that'll make you feel more comfortable? You did sort of join us at short notice."

Mia glanced up and gave him a nervous smile. His stomach felt like it was doing a back flip.

"Thanks Isaac," she murmured. "But there wasn't really much to take care of before I left. Neither was there much to pack. Megan and Justin are quite responsible, despite their age."

"Ah, okay then...."

They fell silent and the tension descended again.

Garet and Ivan were walking a distance behind the pair, watching on.

"Gah! At this rate, they're never going to get together!" Garet complained.

"So are you sure that he likes Mia?" asked Ivan.

"Ivan, have you ever seen Issac act so awkwardly around another person before? Around Mia he just falls to bits! As his friends, it's our duty to help him!"

"I guess you know him better than I do. So.... do you have any ideas?"

"..... uh.... I was sorta hoping you'd have a few actually...."

"Why would you think that?" queried Ivan.

Garet shrugged. "I dunno, don't you ever pick up any tips with all that mind reading you do?"

"Well, since I've spent most of my life living with old merchants who only really think about money, no, not really."

"Drat. Never mind then."

"Let's just wait and see how things work out for now. You can never tell."

Like I may have mentioned on my profile at some point, writing all this really didn't seem to come naturally to me. I'm hoping that the more I write, the easier it'll become, and I'll be able to make it flow more smoothly.

Rather than re-enacting the scene on the lighthouse in perfect detail with the exact game script or something, I changed it around slightly. Essentially the same things do end up happening, but little extras, such as Garet attempting to stop Alex, were created to add extra emotion to it. Rather than changing the story, I prefer the term 'adding more detail'.

And yes, the plan is they do get separated from Garet and Ivan eventually, but that'll happen in a chapter or two.

READ AND REVIEW, seriously, it takes like a second.